Print this post.
Douglas as Col. Dax, in Kubrick’s masterpiece, Paths of Glory.
If you care to know, these are four of our favorite actors. Besides truly memorable roles, what they all had in common was a sturdy, old-fashioned “liberalism”. Robert Ryan, who often played hard, unfeeling and even rightwing characters was widely regarded as a “red” in Hollywood, and a couple of times came close to punching John Wayne in the face, especially when the Duke was loudly expressing his feelings about “commies” and other “anti-American vermin.”
Kirk Douglas’ passionate humanity and sense of social justice permeated most of his roles, particularly in the latter part of his career, when he was able to choose his parts more carefully and influence the choice of other critical elements in a film.
In a celebrated instance, he picked blacklisted Dalton Trumbo (currently in the news because of the new biopic starring Bryan Cranston) to head the scriptwriters’ team for Spartacus (1960), based on a novel by Howard Fast, also a communist-branded figure, who as Trumbo, had refused to give names to the ludicrously named and unconstitutional House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s witch-hunt. Both men had gone to jail for contempt of Congress.
Jimmy Cagney and Burt Lancaster, too, are unique, towering figures, always delightful to watch, often mesmerizing, and exemplary as private citizens. They require little introduction here.
Note to Commenters
Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com
We apologize for this inconvenience.
Nauseated by the
vile corporate media?
Had enough of their lies, escapism,
omissions and relentless manipulation?
Send a donation to
The Greanville Post–or
But be sure to support YOUR media.
If you don’t, who will?
